The Delhi government has sent a proposal to the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) to castigate distribution companies which allow load-shedding multiple times in a day, came a statement from the Delhi govt.
The move comes in the backdrop of the Delhi government protesting against DERC clearing a fuel surcharge that will add to the power bills for the residents of Delhi. Delhi has three power distribution companies for different parts of the city : BSES Rajdhani Power Limited, BSES Yamuna Power Limited and Tata Power.
The Delhi government believes that the power distribution companies have been inefficient in trying to curb power failures and thus the plan seeks to levy penalties daily rather than on a monthly basis.
Buttressing the news, power minister Satyendra Jain told HT that the proposal is likely to be cleared this month, with a provision of a hefty fine.
“Power discoms need to be more efficient and their careless attitude will not be tolerated as far as power cuts are concerned. We have sent a detailed proposal to the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission and we will implement it soon.”
“The penalty has to be quite hefty to ensure they deliver. Privatisation in power was done to ensure discoms provide us uninterrupted power supply. But come summer and power cuts become a routine exercise,” continued Jain.
Uptil now , the discoms can be penalised if the power disruption of an area exceeds 1% of the total energy supplied during a month. According to sources, due to the average calculation even if certain areas face power cuts for a few hours it does not make the total power cut energy more than 1% of the month. “Due to this penalty is rarely imposed on power discoms for power cuts,” said a senior Delhi government official.
A senior DERC official confirmed that a proposal has been received and they were examining the matter.
Recently, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had held a meeting to discuss the issue of penal action to be taken against power discoms for load-shedding during the summer season. The government had also ordered a CAG audit of the power discoms.